Sup, nerds!

Here’s what you’re getting in today’s edition:

• 💅 This is cool: AI meets crypto (Vitalik's vision)

• 🔎 This seems important: 2x positive stories affecting BTC’s price

• 🤝 Partner: The wine aisle is scary. Bright Cellars isn’t.​

• 🔪 Let's dissect this: The best storage is cold storage (so why aren’t more institutions using it?)

Terms used in this edition (click for an explanation, or ​ask Web(GPT)3!​):
Smart Contract, DAO, Cold Storage.

💅 This is cool:

Vitalik’s Vision of Where AI Meets Crypto

In one sentence: ETH founder, Vitalik Buterin, sees AI being used to predict crypto prices, better detect scams, and fully automate a user’s financial life.

Ethereum founder, Vitalik Buterin (aka ETH Daddy), just gave his two cents on where AI and crypto best intersect.

And while we love him — the man is anything but concise.

So we’ve summarized his three main ideas, which start off in the category of ‘safe and well suited,‘ but quickly progress towards ‘cool, but very risky.’

Confused? Here’s what we’re on about:

[Idea 01 ] Use AI as a way to better predict crypto prices.

(Safe, well suited, and probably already being done).

[Idea 02 ] Use AI as a way to better detect scams.

Cause most users can’t/shouldn’t have to read/scrutinize smart contract code to figure out if a transaction request is malicious or not.

(Downside risk: users could get complacent).

[Idea 03 ] Take humans out of the equation and let AI make the decisions.

Whether you’re trading/investing your own money, or voting on how to spend shared funds (say, in a DAO) — some folks dream of being able to take themselves out of the picture, and automate it all away using an array of highly trusted AI models.

Sounds ‘cool, but very risky Skynet-y.’

That’s the basic gist!

(If you want to read the full article, you can do so here).

🥇 Want the news before anyone else?

🔎 This seems important:

Two Pieces of Positive News That Are Affecting Bitcoin’s Price

In one sentence: Outflows from Grayscale’s BTC ETF look to be slowing, while Bitcoin ETF ads are now allowed/running on Google.

Hey, look at that! Two big pieces of positive Bitcoin news.

(We love to see it 🥲).

One story benefits Bitcoin’s fundamentals, while the other benefits its narrative.

First up, fundamentals:

You know how folks collectively sold ~$5B worth of Grayscale BTC ETF shares (due to the fund’s high fees), and dragged the BTC price down with it?

Good news — looks like most of ‘em are done selling! Grayscale’s daily outflows have dropped below $200M.

Next up, narrative:

Remember in December of last year when we were harping on about how Google was planning to allow crypto ads for the first time?

Well, the new policy went into effect as of Monday (01/29), and asset management firms are already pouring money into advertising their Bitcoin ETFs (☝️ see header image).

Is this going to have a direct impact on Bitcoin’s price?

The ads themselves might not. But the narrative certainly can if enough people follow this logic:

“Big asset firms are about to pour millions into Bitcoin ads" → “I think this will push the BTC price up” → “I’m going to buy BTC before it takes off”.

Nice!

🤝 Partner:

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With over 100 varietals sourced from 80 wine regions, you’re guaranteed to discover new wines you love.

No more trying to navigate the scary wine aisle — take the quiz today and get your first six bottles for just $55 ($150+ value).

🔪 Let's dissect this:

The Best Storage Is Cold Storage (So Why Aren’t More Institutions Using It?)

In one sentence: Bitpanda just launched a crypto platform with cold storage - the more large institutions that offer this service, the more investment they can attract.

Gosh, some of these crypto terms we LOVE. 

It’s easy to get complacent and forget how ridiculous this space can be.

For example, here’s a sentence we couldn’t have imagined ourselves saying/understanding/getting excited about even just a few years ago:

Bitpanda just launched a crypto platform with cold storage.

Here’s what that means/why it’s important…

First up: cold storage = an offline device where you can hold your crypto (no internet connection, means it’s way harder to hack). 

But here’s the thing…

Having to connect a device IRL in order to transfer funds is slow, hard to automate, and (we’d guess) quite labor intensive.

Which means, even though it’s an ultra-secure method of storing crypto, there aren't a ton of large institutions offering cold storage to their clients.

It’s a big step forward to see companies like Bitpanda figure out how to offer cold storage, while still allowing their clients to sell their crypto at the drop of a hat.

(Cause the ‘big dogs’ of the investment world aren’t going to be comfortable storing their billions on a USB stick in their desk drawer).

Cold Wallet vs. Hot Wallet